May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_(series) Twilight] Introduction ''The Hunger Games ''is a movie produced in 2012 based on the author's, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Collins Suzanne Collins], book, ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games The Hunger Games]. ''This movie is the first of a triology series. Many of the themes we have discussed in Literature in a Wired World are prevalent in the movie. To begin, discussions held in Literature in a Wired World dealt with what constitutes literature and what constitutes a text. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Endowment_for_the_Arts The National Endowment for the Arts] does a study, asking their surveyors, "...if, during the previous twelve months, they had read any novels, short stories, plays or poetry in their leisure time (not for work or school)" (ix) National Endowment for the Arts. Reading at Risk. http://www.nea.gov/pub/ReadingAtRisk.pdf . They then go on to declare that the adult reading has dropped by twenty percent and that the overall literacy of younger ages is declining. They are blaming this on the fact of the expansion of technology and things such as video games and the internet. However, what they did not consider was the fact that many people can easily access books on the web or other forms of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_literature electronic literature]. In Matthew G. Kirschenbaum's, member of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Literature_Organization Electronic Literature Organization ], post responding to the NEA about the literacy rate, he states, "...but we see the screen as well as the page as a natural venue for literature and imaginative writing" Kirschenbaum. Reading at Risk: A Response.http://otal.umd.edu/~mgk/blog/archives/000563.html This is where the expansion of literature happens; thanks to the web, literature is more broadly defined and includes many types of new works that are new due to the advancement in technology. Literature is a text. A text is "An encoded object or an object or set of objects arranged in the pattern of an interpretable code" Course Lecture. "Writing and Other Information Technologies." ENGL 295. January 31, 2013.. ''The Hunger Games'', both the movie and the book, is now considered a text in this description. Also, there are themes such as the opportunities created by Web 2.0 and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki wikis] that allows relations between the authors, readers, and texts to change. Web 2.0 allows for things such as virtual communities, blogs, social networks, and wikis. It is participation-rich environment and people are allowed to experience much more than they were in the past. Web 2.0 websites include features of search, link, authoring, tags, extensions, and signals. This allows for a plethora of information and interacting to occur Wikipedia. Web 2.0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0.The internet can take one so many places. ''The Hunger Games'' ties into Web 2.0 because of the online communities that are built around this movie and novel. All the online communities share similar conversations through each forum, whether it is the book or the movie. Web 2.0 allows for fans to create communities to discuss topics that interest them. It has changed to relationships between the authors, readers, and texts because reading can be a more active role now. Fans that post on these online communities are allowed to talk to each other about what they think about the movie, they are able to communicate with authors and even actors of the movie, and they are able to debate and interpret the text. The reading experience is no longer static; it is a dynamic role and involves more than the reader reading and accepting. People and fans are challenging the meanings of events and discussing their opinions. The new tools of the internet have expanded the roles that people can play in understanding a text. With all the advancements in knowledge and technology, remediation and refashioning can occur. Ac cording to Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin in ''Remediation: Understanding New Media, ''remediation is also known as, "...'repurposing': to take a 'property' from one medium and reuse it in another" (45) Bolter, Jay David and Richard Grusin. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Course Readings, ENGL 295. 45.. As seen in the picture below, remediation has occured from the medium of a book to the medium of a movie. Reviewing many online communities, I have decided that the most prevalent components of online communities are knowledge communities, interpretive disputes, and refashionings. ''The Hunger Games'' movie was one that brought immence anticipation and a large fan base similar to that of other large films such as ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_(series) Twilight] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_potter Harry Potter] . ''Katniss Everdeen embarks on a journey to compete in the Hunger Games after she pledges as tribute to take place of her sister in the competition. She is part of District 12, and all the Districts compete against one another to the death. It is a movie on the struggle of survival. Only one can survive and Katniss struggles in the race of her life. In these online communities, there are many people posting questions and answering them, whether opionated or informational. Through these discussions, people form knowledge communities, gaining more information, and they also form disputes, dealing with their opinions. This movie is so widely known and loved-that people have even formed their own refashionings by writing their own stories of the characters. This is a movie with a lot of action and drama going on, allowing for many discussions and interpretations. Knowledge Communities Interpretive Disputes Refashionings Further Resources References